For MSP owners and service managers
Three hours to build a workstation. Five minutes to tell the AI to.
We pulled four closed build tickets from a real MSP: 2.7 hours of hands-on labor per machine, on average. Then we ran the same build as a chain, with AI and the RMM doing the work. Tech time: under five minutes. Wall time: about 35. Coordination with the client stays exactly where it was. Everything else goes away.
- Measured on live tickets, before and after
- Built on the RMM and PSA you already run
- Your team builds it, on infrastructure you own
Built by people who run an MSP, in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Watch one build.
A new laptop, out of the box, to a user signed in and a ticket closed. Press start and watch who’s actually working.
- Tech2 min
Claim the ticket, pick the client
The ticket says who the machine is for. That’s all the tech needs. The client’s image, software list, and sign-in model are already staged from the last build.
- Tech2 min
Plug it in, boot to the network
Out of the box, into the dock, F12. No USB stick, no clicking through setup screens.
- Auto18 min
Unattended Windows install
Drivers, partitioning, naming, BitLocker, join. The tech is on another ticket.
- Auto9 min
RMM agent checks in, baseline policy applies
The client’s software list installs itself: Microsoft 365, the line-of-business apps, the security agent, the printer. Settings land from policy, not from memory.
- Auto4 min
Sign-in verified, profile staged
The user’s account is confirmed against the tenant and the profile is staged, so the first sign-in works the first time.
- Auto1 min
User emailed from the PSA
“Your computer is ready, here’s what to expect on first sign-in.” Sent on the ticket, so the thread is in one place.
- Tech1 min
Time logged, ticket closed
The tech glances at the checklist, logs the time, and closes it. Total hands-on time: about five minutes.
Tech time and wall time measured on repeated unattended builds to a client’s laptop. The by-hand figure is the 2.7-hour average from four closed build tickets at the same shop. Client, techs, and MSP not named.
Size it for your shop.
Drag to the number of workstations you build in a year. Build labor goes from 2.7 hours to about 5 minutes. Coordination stays at 0.4 hours per machine, because the client still has to be scheduled, emailed, and closed out.
390
tech hours back per year
9.8
tech-weeks
84%
of ticket time, per machine
Hours, not dollars, on purpose. You know your rates and your bench. We’d rather you do that math than have us do it for you.
The install isn’t the pitch. The chain is.
Every RMM pushes software.
If a vendor tells you “we deploy apps automatically,” you already own that. So do we. It’s not the thing that saves 2.6 hours.
What saves the hours is nobody being in the loop.
From claim to close, no tech waits on a progress bar, types a product key, or remembers which printer this client uses. The chain knows. The tech is on another ticket.
And the ticket closes itself.
The user gets emailed from the PSA. Time gets logged. The ticket closes. Your time-entry data gets better without anyone being nagged about it.
The ticket you don’t get three weeks later.
While sampling build tickets, two support tickets turned up that weren’t builds at all. They were day-two problems on machines that shipped with local-account and profile issues: 50 minutes on one, 44 on the other.
A staged image with the sign-in verified before delivery doesn’t create those tickets. The savings compound: fewer hours on the build, and fewer tickets after it.
“Can’t sign in to the new laptop, it’s asking for a local password.”
50 min logged“New PC shows a temporary profile, none of my files are there.”
44 min loggedNeither ticket exists.
0 minWe run an MSP too. This is how our own builds work now.
Our leadership runs an MSP with nine techs. The build chain on this page is running there, on real client machines, with the before-and-after timings read from the PSA. We bring the pattern, the lessons, and the pieces that already work, and build your version with your team.
- Start with one client. Stage their image and software list once, about an hour. Every build after that is five minutes of tech time.
- Built with your team. No developers needed. AI does the heavy lifting, your techs learn to extend it.
- On infrastructure you own. Your RMM, your PSA, your tenants. We step back when it’s running.
- Measured before and after. We read your build tickets first, so you know your own 2.7.
Shop talk.
Where do the 2.7 hours come from?
Four closed build tickets at the MSP our leadership runs, read from the time entries: 2.75h, 2.5h, 3.63h, and a batched pair at 1.58h each. Average 2.7, median 2.8. It matches the three-plus hours most shops quote for a workstation setup.
Does coordination really stay the same?
Yes, and we say so on purpose. Claiming the ticket, scheduling with the client, the follow-up email, and the close run 20 to 30 minutes per machine whether a person or a pipeline did the build. Any business case that says the whole ticket disappears won’t survive your own techs.
We already push software with our RMM. What’s different?
Nothing, if that’s all you do, and we won’t pretend otherwise. The install by itself isn’t a differentiator. The chain is: AI resolves which machine the user actually signs into, the OS and apps land unattended, the sign-in is verified, the user gets emailed from the PSA, the time gets logged, and the ticket closes. No tech in the loop between claim and close.
Which RMM and PSA does this work with?
The ones you run. We’ve built it on NinjaOne and ImmyBot with HaloPSA on the other end, and the pattern carries to ConnectWise and Autotask. The AI sits inside the tools, it doesn’t replace them.
What about the machines already in the field?
That’s the next phase, and the two feed each other. Two of the support tickets we found while sampling builds were post-delivery problems a properly staged image would have prevented. Fewer sloppy builds means fewer day-two tickets.
Do we need developers?
No. Your team builds alongside us with AI doing the heavy lifting, on infrastructure you own. If you’d rather not build a piece, we build it to your spec and license it to you.
Stop quoting three hours and spending three hours.
Thirty minutes, free, MSP to MSP. Bring your RMM, your PSA, and last month’s build tickets.
© Southport AI & Automation, LLC. Kenosha, Wisconsin. southport.ai/msps